Why this ride
A 149 km round trip from Aire-sur-la-Lys - roughly 2 h 50 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cité de Rimbert, Beffroi de Béthune, Fosse n°5 and Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Terril 244 and Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 149 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 50
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Terril 244
Way out at the western tip of the coalfield, near the villages of Mametz and Norrent-Fontes, Terril 244 marks the place where coal mining reached its limit. Beyond it, the land belongs to farmers, and the next towns, Aire-sur-la-Lys and Saint-Omer, have more to do with canals, marshes and markets than with mines. The heap stands as a solitary landmark in the fields, smaller than the giants further east, and its green-covered slopes blend into the landscape. It is one of the outlying components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin listed by UNESCO, a reminder that the coalfield stretched for over a hundred kilometres from the Belgian border to here.
Read the complete Terril 244 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 244 is where the day begins. Next is Cité de Rimbert.
2. Cité de Rimbert
West of Béthune, the coalfield starts to run out of flat land. The first chalk hills of Artois rise around Auchel and Cauchy-à-la-Tour, and the pit villages climb their slopes in neat rows of brick. The Cité de Rimbert is one of these, built by the mining company of Marles to house its workers, and it belongs to the long necklace of sites in the UNESCO-listed mining basin. Its houses, gardens and straight streets are a textbook example of company planning, with every family given a home, a vegetable plot and a short walk to the pit.
Read the complete Cité de Rimbert write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité de Rimbert comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de Béthune.
3. Beffroi de Béthune
The belfry of Béthune has been standing in the middle of the Grand Place since the fourteenth century, and it has survived more than most of the buildings around it. In 1918 the town centre was almost completely destroyed by German shelling, and the square was rebuilt in the 1920s in a mix of Flemish and Art Deco styles, with tall, ornate façades in brick and stone around the old tower. The belfry, a symbol of the town's ancient freedoms, is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, and climbing its stairs gives a fine view over the rooftops and the flat land around.
Read the complete Beffroi de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 37 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de Béthune. Next is Fosse n°5.
4. Fosse n°5
Douvrin, Billy-Berclau and Wingles form a little triangle of brick towns at the northern edge of the Lens coalfield, and the old pit known as Fosse n°5 sits among them. It is not a famous site and does not need to be: its value lies in being one of the many pieces that make up the mining landscape UNESCO listed in 2012, a network of pits, housing estates, slag heaps, railways and public buildings stretching for over a hundred kilometres across the north of France. Seen from the saddle, the area is a patchwork of cités, fields, canals and newer industrial estates, with the occasional terril breaking the skyline.
Read the complete Fosse n°5 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fosse n°5, about halfway. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval.
5. Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
The flat coalfield of northern France has one real hill near Liévin, and on top of it stand two tall white pylons carved with figures of grief. This is Vimy Ridge, taken by the Canadian Corps in April 1917, and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial looks out over the mining country below. Down on the plain, in Avion and Liévin, Pinchonval is a cité, a miners' housing estate of brick houses and gardens, and with dozens of other sites it makes up the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, a World Heritage Site since 2012.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval sits at 73 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fosse n°5.
6. back through Fosse n°5
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fosse n°5 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fosse n°5 comes up about 93 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Beffroi de Béthune.
7. back through Beffroi de Béthune
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Beffroi de Béthune. Next is back through Cité de Rimbert.
8. back through Cité de Rimbert
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité de Rimbert write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité de Rimbert, late in the day. Next is Terril 244.
9. Terril 244
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 244 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 149 km.
Leg by leg
Terril 244 to Cité de Rimbert
Terril 244 → Cité de Rimbert is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité de Rimbert to Beffroi de Béthune
Cité de Rimbert → Beffroi de Béthune is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Béthune to Fosse n°5
Beffroi de Béthune → Fosse n°5 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fosse n°5 to Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
Fosse n°5 → Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval to back through Fosse n°5
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval → back through Fosse n°5 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fosse n°5 to back through Beffroi de Béthune
back through Fosse n°5 → back through Beffroi de Béthune is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de Béthune to back through Cité de Rimbert
back through Beffroi de Béthune → back through Cité de Rimbert is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité de Rimbert to Terril 244
back through Cité de Rimbert → Terril 244 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.